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G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #304 by Larry Hama, Chris Mooneyham, Francesco Segala and Pat Brosseau (SKYBOUND ENTERTAINMENT/IMAGE COMICS)
After the shocking ending of the last issue, we have been waiting for a resolution from the BLOWUP!
Joe’s on the Defense
Let’s get this out of the way: Scarlett and Snake Eyes are ok! They staged their demise. Thank goodness it was pasta night! So with that, Serpentor thinks he’s taken pieces off the board when, in fact, we now have free agents to do as they please.
Dawn is back home in Springfield, checking on her family. But it seems something isn’t right—no more than usual. Cobra Commander is planning a coup using the Community Center as a staging area full of H.I.S.S. tanks. Inside, we see a rally led by the face-covered dictator-wannabe. One big standout is that he has an army of human followers versus the enhanced mutant/engineered/built/cybernetic/amalgamed troops Serpentor has.
Lastly, back at THE PIT, Spector has sent a small 3-man squad to infiltrate one of Joe’s encampments. Well, the lights ain’t on, and nobody’s home. On the flip side, Serpentor also has a 3 man squad running recon on Cobra Commander’s coup. With Dawn on hand running her own recon, she switches mode and attacks these enhanced snakes. Having the upper hand, they have no recourse but to self-destruct!
Reversal of Fortune
So with Snake and Scarlett in the clear, Wild Bill, with a small crew, touches down near the cabin and hopes to reverse engineer these Blue Ninjas. After take-off…. They auto-repair and try to take over the airship!! Wild Bill goes cowboy, and the teams throws the remains out of the chopper! But there goes that opportunity.
Speaking of fortunes, the last page takes place in a lavish castle in Scotland…. with Destro, The Baroness and the sly face stealing Zartan.
From THE PIT
First off, I’m glad no one was killed off. With everything happening over in other unrelated (but still GI JOE) books to have that type of devastating blow while still reeling from the shock would be bad form.
Now that we have 2 Snake Eyes essentially I’m waiting to see how this is going to play out. Is Dawn going to take on another code name? Or is she going to be a bit of a wild card, considering her past and connection to Springfield?
Gi Joe #304: 7.5 YO JOES out of 10
Larry Hama is moving so many pieces around on the chess board, and now introducing Destro has flipped the board entirely into RISK! There are so many factions and subfactions in them. So, choosing to build a setup at this point is wise. You can’t just have all action you need to build the plot.
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